Hanging out in Marathon - trip to Key West

And they're off!

completely airborne! 

one of the leaders - at least for now

making a lap - fast!!

another "out of the water" adventure!

about to get lapped!

Qatar - the big winner of all
driven by a shiek from Dubai

seen this guy race before - very fast!!

A beautiful day for a race!

Veteran's Day Parade in Key West
Love the bagpipes!

Just one of the many entries in the parade

A great parade - lots of scout troops

Inside Hogs Breath Saloon

One of the infamous roosters in Key West

We’ve been here in Marathon for two weeks now.  Wow, time is flying here.  I can’t believe next week is Thanksgiving.  This is the second Thanksgiving now that we’ve spent on NautiNell.  While we are having a great time here in Florida – I do miss my family and friends.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

We seem to be on a mission here checking out all the restaurants.  By the time all the other boaters get here we should be quite the experts on where to and where not to eat.   So far, we haven’t been to any of the “where not” to eat places.  All is good!

Saturday Marathon held its Veteran’s Day parade.  It wasn’t really very big – but it was nice.  Afterwards there were festivities at the American Legion.  We hung out there for a while – people watching. 

Sunday we had a full day.  The International Powerboat Races were being held this week in Key West.  The finals were Sunday.  There is a bus that goes to Key West from Marathon.  You can even take your bikes.  AND – for seniors – it only costs $1.50 each way.  How’s that for a bargain!  It’s about 1 ½ hours to Key West on the bus.   We met a couple (Gary and Sheryl) at the bus stop from Vera Beach that had also come down to the races.  Also, a girl named JJ that works at the local liquor store.   After a few more stops the bus was pretty much full.  The ride didn’t seem nearly as long as I had anticipated. 

We made it to the races just in time to see the start.  Wow!  We had a great view at Mallory Square.   It turned out to be really cool.  Watching the boats, the people, eating hotdogs and pretzels, drinking beer and enjoying the sunshine – all in Key West.  No complaints here!

After the races we had a few beers at Sloppy Joes.  That’s when we heard all the commotion outside.  Cool!  Here comes the Veteran’s Day Parade – down Duvall Street.   Now this Veteran’s Day parade was pretty cool.  It lasted quite a long time.  I guess I didn’t realize how many people actually live in Key West.  It was quite impressive.  They threw out some good candy too!  HA!

After that we went to Hogs Breath for dinner.  Always a good time to be had there.  We decided after dinner we should probably head to the bus stop.  That’s really the only problem riding the bus to Key West.  You have to remember you are on their schedule and not yours.  In other words you have to be pretty flexible.  No problem for us though.  We made it to the bus stop in plenty of time.  When we got there – there was Gary and Sheryl waiting for the bus too.  However, they had had quite a time.  They had been trying to catch the bus for a couple of hours.  The one that was supposed to come by earlier had been re-routed due to the parade – they had no way of knowing that nor did the others that were at the bus stop.  Glad we had spent our time at Hogs Breath.  Sometimes things do work out….  HA!  Anyway, this bus showed up on time and we were on our way.  It was funny because about half of the bus was the same people that had ridden down there with us.  Most were rather tired and maybe somewhat “tipsy”.  LOL!  What a fun day!

Now today we’re working on refinishing the teak furniture and the bright work on NautiNell.  It’s looking pretty good so far!  Oh and we’re renting a car this weekend – Mike has found another scooter a couple of hundred miles away.  This one is a Yamaha “Zuma”.  We’ve also sold the “Tank”.  Are you keeping up?  Mike wasn’t really happy with the Chinese “Tank”.  The Zuma is a 49cc.  I should be able to ride it (all by myself - lookout!!) – no license needed.  Also, he’s looking into another one.  Two would be nice – hope they both fit on the boat!

Oh and yesterday, when I was getting off the boat there was a HUGE iguana – over 6 feet long -  just sunning himself on the finger next to our boat.  He stayed there quite a while watching me before he just dove into the water.  Pretty cool!  Wish I could have taken a picture.  I love the Keys!

Till Next time!

Admiral “C”